Fountains Abbey

Last Sunday I visited Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire with my parents, a day out to celebrate both my birthday and their 45th wedding anniversary. It’s a wonderful place to visit for several different reasons. The ruins of the Cistercian abbey, destroyed with the dissolution of the monasteries under the orders of King Henry VIII, are fascinating for anyone interested in history, whilst the grounds within which they’re set contain both a medieval deer park and a Georgian water garden. It’s a beautiful place to walk around. There are so many different things to look at that it’s practically impossible to see it all in a single visit.

We began our day by walking around the deer park. We saw a few deer, though most were too far away to photograph. Within the area there is also a cottage, a church, an obelisk, a 400 year old sweet chestnut tree and lots of gorgeous views.

Stag in deer park

Stag with does in deer park

St Mary’s Church

Chorister’s House

Obelisk

View over deer park

400 year old sweet chestnut tree

As I’m sure you all know by now, I love taking photographs of paths and random countryside scenes – there were lots of these for me to enjoy snapping. I especially loved all the autumnal colours.

The paths led us around to the lake, where we paused for a time at the lakeside tea rooms, and then on to the water gardens.

All around the water gardens are lots of little follies.

Temple of Fame

Grotto

The hermit’s Cave

Temple of Piety

We then followed the River Skell away from the ponds of the water garden. Before long the ruins of the abbey could be seen through the trees…

… until finally we reached the abbey itself.

After we’d enjoyed a tasty Sunday dinner in the Abbey restaurant and explored the ruins we walked out past Fountains Hall, where a wedding party was gathered for photographs (which unfortunately meant I couldn’t get a clear shot of the hall). It was nearing time for us to leave by this point so we caught our last few sights before heading back to the car.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed my virtual tour. 🙂 If you’d like to know more about the history of this wonderful place, my mum, Millie Thom, has also written a post, looking at its changing role over the centuries. You can find it here.

Now I need to return to my NaNoWriMo prep – this post took me far longer to put together than I’d intended!

Gorgeous photos, thanks for sharing! I especially like the ones of the woods and paths, perhaps because I already saw your mother’s shots of the ruins (although yours were great too). Such a lovely day for your tour, too!

It’s one of my favourite places in Yorkshire, both for the abbey and the deer park – I was lucky enough to visit one year during rutting season. We watched the deer battle each other for hours, and the noise they made was so unearthly, almost like whale song. Mesmerising. Thanks for sharing, made me want to back soon!

We were hoping to see the rut this year but unfortunately none of the stags were battling. I’d love to go back with a longer lens and spend more around the deer park – my long lens at the moment isn’t being read by my camera. It’s very annoying! I’m glad the post brought back some good memories for you. 🙂

No worries; as the commercial says, “its good to be back.”
Super glad to hear you a working on that novel. All of us who love your work will be anxiously awaiting the first draft(s). You just gotta share, Louise, you just gotta